


Tacit

by Neila_Nuruodo



Category: Final Fantasy XIV
Genre: Comfort Sex, Fluff and Angst, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-10
Updated: 2019-11-10
Packaged: 2021-01-26 14:54:26
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,014
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21375922
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Neila_Nuruodo/pseuds/Neila_Nuruodo
Summary: Minor Shadowbringers spoilersElidibus has to be a bastion of strength for his sundered brethren; when he goes to wake Emet-Selch he finds himself suffering a rare moment of weakness.  Few are they indeed that he trusts with his heart in such a state.
Relationships: Solus zos Galvus | Emet-Selch/Elidibus
Comments: 8
Kudos: 60





	Tacit

Elidibus had no need to take the long path to reach his destination; he need only picture it, exert his will, and he would arrive. But the journey comforted him, ringing to him of pilgrimage, of penance, and so he made his way toward the spot of deep darkness that was his goal. His steps could not truly be heavy in this place between places, but a heavy heart made his measured progress feel slow, metered to a dirge.

The distance shrank steadily, almost too fast, and he found himself reticent, slowing. One might think after so many millennia he could say with confidence how this meeting would go. Alas, even if he weren’t the bearer of unwelcome news, the mercurial nature of his message’s recipient made it an exercise in futility to predict aught, beyond the most basic of conjecture, of how it would be received. How _ he _would be received.

At length he came within sight of his goal—at first glimpse, just a man’s form, swathed in darkness, though closer approach brought the surrounding aura into clear sight. A mighty, beautiful soul. Sleeping. He drew up beside him, pained at the prospect of disturbing him.

He hesitated for a moment, a mere span of breaths had he any need of such a thing, studying the man, the dormant soul before him. Though still, he was not in true stasis; the slow shifting of mottled dark and color indicated slow thoughts—dreams, most like—moving in stately procession through the vastness of the soul eclipsing the aether-formed body before him.

Tenderly, he brushed his own aether along the soul's outer bounds. He infused it with astral ice and lightning, with everything that those who knew him would recognize as_ him. _ The convolutions within the soul altered, spinning for a moment counter to their previous direction of movement, then settled into new patterns. Again he caressed, more insistently though no less gently, and the soul began to stir.

He maintained the contact, savoring its familiarity. So long had he been the rock, the firm place to which others retreated in uncertainty; for just a moment he allowed himself this weakness, this support.

"Elidibus?" The soul reached back, connection snapping into place. Alarm pervaded the bond, but Elidibus soothed it, plying reassurance over him. Slowly he attained full wakefulness, and the bond narrowed, its initial openness turning reserved, screened. "What is wrong? What has happened?"

Of course Emet-Selch knew there was an issue. Elidibus had made no attempt to disguise his distress, his anger, his frustration. His grief.

"Lahabrea is no more."

His explanation was greeted with confusion; not only was Emet-Selch still gaining his bearings, but he had begun his rest some time before the Scions discovered how to destroy an Ascian soul. Heartsick and dreading the necessity of reliving the memory, he sought deeper access to Emet-Selch's self.

Perhaps sensing his fragile state, the other did not refuse or even grumble; he enfolded Elidibus, the two souls overlapping, nearly becoming one. Memory spilled out, the pair experiencing the loss together, half-anew, half old, familiar pain. Together they remembered damage control—plans awry, discarded, salvaged, and—finally—unlikely seeds bearing fruit.

"I have done what I can alone. I need your help."

A gusty sigh, and he stirred from reluctant wakefulness to motion, the form standing to face Elidibus. Their souls were still closely joined, the physical action a gratuitous kindness, an additional display of closeness.

“He knew, did he not, of Nabriales’s demise?”

Elidibus confirmed this through their bond. Irritation blossomed back in response.

“Then how could he let this happen? Did he fail to take precautions? Why did he not divert others to assist, or seek your help?”

"As he strove, as we came more and more to disagreement, I withdrew from him. Not wanting to be at odds, I thought it better to stand aside. I see, now—too late—that this was a mistake."

Emet-Selch’s dissatisfaction, expressed in bodily posture and facial expression, echoed also in his soul. It recalled to Elidibus how he had felt upon overcoming his disbelief that both Lahabrea and Igeyorhm might fall before the Warrior of Light. Sensing that Emet-Selch was content to communicate in the mundane fashion, he began to draw the bond between them closed.

"Then why are you pulling away from me now?"

Arrested, he sought an answer. None satisfied. He expressed his contrition to Emet-Selch. "It seems I have made a habit of it. I am sorry."

The connection between them opened wider, drawing him deeper within the other.

"I know why you did it, you silly man." His words bore his trademark grumble. "After what they did, you're afraid of losing me, too."

Through Emet-Selch's eyes he could see himself clearly; there was no denying the truth of his words. Named, the fear broke free, swelling in his thoughts, consuming. Emet-Selch's tender exasperation deflated it.

"I will not be so foolish as to repeat the same mistakes. So they have white auracite? Then I'll keep my distance. Use illusions. I can avoid direct confrontation—you know well that I prefer to maneuver others to do my work for me whenever possible." Still the vestiges of fear clung, and Emet-Selch gently took his chin, turning Elidibus's face up to his. "I'm not going anywhere."

Tears welled behind his mask, and he blinked, spilling them over his lids when he sought to banish them. Slowly they trailed down his face, slipping from beneath the mask, until Emet-Selch's thumbs caressed them away. His hands didn't stop after banishing the traitorous droplets, rising to cast the hood back gently, trailing down the edge of the mask, an unvoiced request. In response, he took the mask off, letting it fall. Emet-Selch, hood still down from his sleep, did the same, and they looked for a long while upon the faces they had chosen.

Beauty, to Elidibus’s mind, existed in multitudinous forms and aspects. One aspect of it stood before him, the guise of a Garlean unable to conceal from his eyes the soul within, a representation of love in all forms he knew.

“Hades…” he whispered, both in voice and in soul, and the other’s face contorted upon feeling his anguish. Strong arms wrapped around him, pulling the vessels nearly as close as the contents were mixed.

“There, now. You won’t have to bear it all alone. Together we can still prevail.” He bent, his lips brushing over Elidibus’s as he opened himself fully, as they mingled their entireties together. They aligned, their pain one, their hope one, their intentions and plans, all one. Their need… one. A dark tide rose in his heart, and Elidibus drew back. Long fingers remained twined in his hair, insistent that he stay close.

"Don't leave yet. I think we both need this."

"I fear I am in no fit state to treat you as you deserve.”

Laughter trembled around him. “Oh, Elidibus. Ever you concern yourself with the needs of others before your own.” Great talons grew, clutched his soul in their razor grasp. “Let me give you what _ you _ need for once.” Careful but insistent, Emet-Selch pulled him close again.

Elidibus knew full well he had the capacity to break that hold, yet no part of him desired to do so. He drew in a deep, shuddering breath, the motion useless but comforting. “Hades, be sure. I… doubt I will have the wherewithal to stop.” His vessel’s spine arched as the other’s lips sealed on his, hard, the claws in his soul digging in possessively. An answer more eloquent than words. He reached up, hands grasping senselessly at cloth and flesh, as the dark need within him rose again. This time he did not dam its flow.

His hand locked onto the back of Hades's head; at his urging the other Ascian followed him down until they could arrange themselves on a horizontal. Still letting the dark waters of his soul build and crest, he let Hades recline over him, claws latching deeper into his self as his mouth wandered down his neck. Clever hands slid lower, banishing the aether-formed fabric between them and clinging to the contours of his chosen form, worshipping in silent supplication.

Pain and disbelief still echoed in Hades's depths, transmuted for now into need and passion as they mingled in both soul and body, as shaking hands clenched, as his lover’s touch coaxed him into position according to his will. Elidibus let him, biding. He gasped soundlessly as Hades pressed into him, slow hunger building as his soul delved deeper into his own at the same time, greedy. Desire made him shudder at the intrusion, the slow back-and-forth of twinned pleasure sinking deep, achingly sweet. Then Hades rested a moment, fully within him in all ways, and Elidibus smiled.

He seized Hades’s nape in a fierce grip, the force of it startling; the electrum eyes flew wide. “You’re mine,” he hissed, almost biting at the other man’s mouth, such was the force of his kiss. His cresting waves broke over Hades’s soul, swamping him, engulfing him. He felt him flail, abruptly adrift, and cradled him gently, inexorably to his heart. _ Mine. _

Still atop him, Hades groaned, undulating helplessly, at the mercy of the darkness flooding his soul. Elidibus bit at his shoulder as he drew him deeper, deeper into those dark waters, filling him, as though he were a body he could possess. He overshadowed the other man, dark suggestion coaxing, moving him to his will, to their mutual pleasure and need. Hades’s soul writhed within him, caught between the need to break free of the drowning dark and a need to be consumed. Possessed.

They gasped as fiercely as though they truly needed air, the motion of their bodies hastened in desperation, echoing the condition of the soul, the true self within. Hades cried out, wordless and frantic, mortal envelope spasming in helpless ecstacy as his soul reached full surrender, utter trust and vulnerability. Elidibus bore down on his most intimate self, fangs sinking deep, poised to devour.

A rough, ragged sound impinged upon his consciousness, familiar. Then it echoed through their shared soul, and he recognized his name. Surfacing from the fell frenzy that had gripped him, he drew back, releasing the soul still latched in his jaws, laving tender darkness over it to heal the damage he had done in his senseless state. His body still trembled, shaky with the force of the passion that had scoured it; Hades's own form lay slumped in limp surrender atop him.

Gingerly he released his lover’s soul, bit by bit, mourning the loss, the aching emptiness where he had late been so full. In trembling quiescence Hades let him take full charge of the withdrawal, content to recover from the onslaught of Elidibus's full need and passion. He stirred only once they had drawn apart, leaving naught but a conduit for communication.

"Well!" Emet-Selch's voice bore the cheer of playful good humor. "I suppose I did ask for that. Do remind me of this the next time I decide to let you 'do with me as you will,' hmm?" He withdrew from Elidibus's body, curling around affectionately.

He could not but chuckle at Emet-Selch's teasing. "I shall be sure to do so, though I confess a temptation to wait until I have you inextricably bound first."

The force of Emet-Selch's scowl was diminished somewhat by the half-vexed amusement in his soul. "You would enjoy seeing me writhe so, wouldn't you?"

A dark chuckle escaped his lips. "Come, now. I indulge myself so rarely; surely you would not begrudge me this."

Affection-tinged exasperation washed through their bond. "That depends heavily on how often you intend to do that to me." He shifted, drawing away reluctantly, sighing. "Well, I suppose I'd better track down some kind of body to use. We've got a lot of work to do."

Slowly Elidibus gathered his strength, his walls, meticulously hiding all evidence of his brief weakness. The others needed him to be strong. “So we do.”


End file.
